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about

From August through November, I traveled around the country with my guitar. After four weeks on the road and sleeping in my car, I met an amazing community of people in San Francisco, holed up in their home and wrote a handful of songs. Here are some of my favorites.

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credits

released December 18, 2010

All songs by Billy Simons, except Song 9 by Billy Simons and David Stillman
Produced and engineered by David Stillman and Billy Simons
Mixed by David Stillman
Fugitive Sounds, Los Angeles California
October 2010

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He was already gone by the time she heard the radio saying what he’d done
On his own, on the run in the back of any pickup truck driving towards the sun

And no he could not criticize her but he could never understand
How she could soon forget so easily
Like a two ton bomb across his back
He was hit by every word
And fallout soon became their history

He says “Elyria, won’t you call my name out loud?”
“Elyria, won’t you call my name out loud?”

Past the night, through the cold all the smokestacks and the factories did as they were told
And she was right and he a fool, and it was easier to let him go with something else to hold

And no he could not criticize her but he could never understand
How she could soon forget so easily
Like a two ton bomb across his back
He was hit by every word
And fallout soon became their history

He says “Elyria, won’t you call my name out loud?”
“Elyria, won’t you call my name out loud?”

Track Name: Tequila Bar

One stop he’s shopping around at this tequila bar
His eyes are roaming and they’re bloodshot
Who did she meet for the evening
Midnight the heat in the air’s feeling alright
The sweat on her back in the lowlight
The sound of her silently breathing

Dreaming and thinking up pictures in his mind
Drinking to forget the good times
Watching the light as it bends
One scar bleeding the life from his system
Feeling the pulse of her rhythm
True love was never his friend

It’s all wrong, the radio sings out a love song
He suddenly forgets her problems
Imagining all her perfection
Shut down, gets on the road that’s going uptown
Parks on her block during a breakdown
Why won’t she answer, he’s calling

Dreaming and thinking up pictures in his mind
Drinking to forget the good times
Watching the light as it bends
One scar bleeding the life from his system
Feeling the pulse of her rhythm
True love was never his friend

What a deadbeat, the smell of the bar in the front seat
Awake to the sounds of the morning
He’s never felt so alone
Steps out, fixes his hair as he looks round
But can’t find a sign of her car now
Looks like she never came home

Dreaming and thinking up pictures in his mind
Drinking to forget the good times
Watching the light as it bends
One scar bleeding the life from his system
Feeling the pulse of her rhythm
True love was never his friend

Track Name: Goodnight, New York

I'm going out to Mendocino, I'm going down to Mexico
All along the cliffs on 66 til there is nowhere left to go
And with your neon lights behind me
Good lord I'm gonna miss you
So when I leave this town I'll lay you down
I'll tuck you in and kiss you oh

Goodnight, New York, Goodnight

We got oh so many problems, I've got only so much time
And no we can't go back to the life we had, there ain't no use in trying
I got a suitcase full of these memories
That I'm sure to take for granted
But when I'm on the road they'll bring me home
And give me all the answers so

Goodnight, New York, Goodnight

I've been up to see the sunrise when it floods the Bowery
And the homeless roam the streets they own, with the men selling magazines
And I can feel the city sleeping
Through the pavement at my feet
In my loneliness there's a holiness and a time for discovery

I've been up so many late nights, taking down so many drinks
While lighting fires I'm growing tired wondering why I am still awake
And when the guitars play behind me you know the carnival goes on
I'm just a witness to the madness and I'm glad it never stops

Goodnight, New York, Goodnight

And down an old dirt road full of promises there's a mountain of regret
And you can't call it forgiveness if it's just that you forget
And it seems if I was never scared I couldn't call it brave
And if I don't go after all my dreams, someone else just may

Goodnight, New York, Goodnight

Track Name: The End of the Road

He was only a man off to war
With nothing to lose and nothing worth more
He set sail for a life of his own
That cold December

In the night he left letters to god
By the side of the road should he pass through this town
And though the telephone rang until dawn
He wouldn’t answer he just wrote:

It’s the end of the road it’s the start of the sea
If I’m out of mind my well that’s alright with me
My life’s in the ocean I‘ve finally found
My heart’s in a place that would make momma proud
I woke up this morning a man who will fight
To be born again well you first have to try
I’ve polished my shoes since I’ve miles to go
And I’ll see you again real soon
Past the end of the road

When he’d served through the youth of his age
Well the medals they tied to him anchored his shame
And the rest of his life had gone by
All in a moment
He was more than a child of the war
With the longing desire for the life lived before
All the letters he wrote as a boy
He found in the basement

It’s the end of the road it’s the start of the sea
If I’m out of mind my well that’s alright with me
My life’s in the ocean I‘ve finally found
My heart’s in a place that would make momma proud
I woke up this morning a man who will fight
To be born again well you first have to try
I’ve polished my shoes since I’ve miles to go
And I’ll see you again real soon
Past the end of the road

When the cold took him out to the tide
And he walked towards the darkness with his brothers in sight
He was only a child of the war
In search of deliverance

It’s the end of the road it’s the start of the sea
If I’m out of mind my well that’s alright with me
My life’s in the ocean with all of my friends
My heart’s in a place that I’d rather forget
I woke up this morning a man I despise
To be born again well you first have to die
I’ve polished my shoes since I’ve miles to go
And I’ll see you again real soon
Past the end of the road

Track Name: I Will Hold You

I will hold you
When you’re down and confused
And you feel like the world
Has just turned on you

I will hold you
When you think you’re alone
And there’s nowhere to turn
And no place to call home

I will hold you
One thing on my mind
To have you for myself
For one moment in time

I will hold you
I will play the good friend
I will dry all your tears
As a means to an end

And I’ll hold you
I will make you feel strong
Then you won’t have a clue
That your feelings are wrong

I will hold you
I will make you feel safe
Til I get what I want
I will lie to your face

So when I told ya
“Do what’s best for you”
Why wouldn’t you think
That’s just what I’d do?

Track Name: Song 9 (Tuesday)

Pull through, a soggy walk to work in the sideways rain
The bus stops and bodegas a sad refrain
The young in love upstairs kept him up again

“Hey you,” a lonely voice rejoices from underground
Calling the lost with the word that they might be found
Feeling the rain in his shoes as he moves along

And he thinks…

I, I’m still in love with you

High noon, he waits for the sound of the ring but the call won’t come
Pictures of her on the desk, guessing, going, gone
Replays and revisions across his tongue

Someday soon, he’ll take the flight just like she had asked him to
Leave behind a world worth letting go
Maybe tomorrow, maybe tomorrow

And he thinks…

I, I’m still in love with you

Track Name: The Book of Love

The book of love is long and boring
No one can lift the damn thing
It's full of charts and facts and figures
And instruction for dancing

But I, I love it when you read to me
And you, you can read me anything

The book of love has music in it
In fact that's where music comes from
Some of it is just transcendental
Some of it is just really dumb

But I, I love it when you sing to me
And you, you can sing me anything

The book of love is long and boring
And written very long ago
It's full of flowers and heart shaped boxes
And things we're all too young to know

But I, I love it when you give me things
And you, you ought to give me wedding rings